When You're Down and Out
by Vampire Solidarity1
Summary: Meredith Ambrose hates the mob and all the violence in Gotham. When her cousin is scared for her life, Meredith has to wade into the sewer of Gotham's crime, perhaps with not so legal methods. After all, no one said that being in the moral grey-area was bad.


_Meredith Ambrose is a student with little direction and paying her way working for the GCPD. She hates the mob and all the violence in Gotham. When her cousin is scared for her life, Meredith has to wade into the sewer of Gotham's crime, perhaps with not so legal methods. _

Do not own Batman Arkham series of video games, or any DC characters, just Meredith Ambrose.

Prologue

Let me be clear.

I do not like my family, and I extremely loath the idea of relationships based on reciprocity. That being said, when my cousin needed my help, when she became in too deep with Roman Sionis, and I was only a short distance away studying at Gotham U...I came when she called.

That was the most hair-brained idea that I have ever had.

Loyalty can really stab you were it hurts. Loyalty is a funny notion; rarely does it extend to where you'd like it to. You can have loyalty to your job, loyalty to the dedication that you put into your work, loyalty in a romantic capacity. I find myself burdened with the lead-weight of family obligation. Making sure that your cousin doesn't get murdered in her apartment by any number of crime families is pseudo-part-time job. That and bailing her out of her drug charges in the past.

Of all the hormone driven fallacies, Tiffany had to be one of the girlfriends of a major crime boss. The lithe blonde was only one of a long line of "girlfriends" that Black Mask called his own. The moronic tendencies of my cousin's primitive mind make me despair at the entire race.

It was only September, when Tiffany had called me in a panic. Suddenly, what few grey cells my cousin possessed, seemed to tell her that her situation was dangerous enough to call me for help. Oh, really? How could a romantic entanglement with one of the most dangerous men in Gotham be a bad thing and warrant a cause for concern? You see what I have to put up with? I am surrounded by idiots.

There was nothing that I could do.

I moved in with her, reluctantly. She is never home anyway. I am more of a living security system, which she can use for long digressions about her relationship woes. Not that I listen anyway. As soon as she says, "You'll never believe it..." I just tune her out.

There is a tempest coming. Something is not well with the underworld of Gotham. Criminals are getting restless. They seem to be stock-piling up on weapons more and more. There is talk even of a giant bat flying around. I would be suspicious, but I have it on good authority that it exists. A dear friend has very meticulous access to the cameras around the city.

My part-time job offers me more insight than most to the escalation of crime. As a file clerk, a civilian, working for the GCPD, I see the mountains of reports piling ever higher, and Black Gate bulking under the weight of too many prisoners.

If only someone could persuade the criminals to pull back on the crimes. I mean it's not like the buffoons in the police force can do anything if the criminals keep at it. Then again, I am working on a little side project with my prized friend. He thinks that his plan will work, and what's more, I believe that he just might be right. When you're down and out, you find that you have nothing to lose. "Nothing to lose," that sounds iridescently liberating. As I have said...I have nothing to lose, except that one tether to terra firma, my poor deluded cousin.

There is _something_ that I can do...it just goes into that moral grey area.

If we fail, then at least I have had fun doing it. A lot of amusement can be found at other people's expense, or at least, the unintelligent ones.

Maybe the city will crumble down under the weight of the turmoil. I think that maybe this is just the beginning of something new. I always liked a challenge.

A mystery can be sweeter than a symphony, if one can only decode it.


End file.
